Joey Allen (Reed Decoy Maker)

Hello, my name is Joey Allen. I am Paiute and Shoshone from the Stillwater area just outside Fallon, Nevada. In the early 1990s I was graced with an apprenticeship offer from Martin George in the craft of Paiute Tule Decoy making. The lineage of modern traditional Stillwater decoy makers stems from the George family, namely Wuzzie and Jimmie George. Having been of a generation born with only moderate contact with American settlers in the Lahontan Valley, Wuzzie and Jimmie worked and lived as many of their generation would; applying traditional living to the changing world around them.

Along with decoy making and demonstration, I stay involved with tribal cultural issues around my time as a stay at home dad. There always seems to be some continuing facet of improvement constantly happening, just in the realm of decoy making, that makes that time very worthwhile.